Lessons · Network switches · EtherNet/IP
EtherNet/IP is ordinary Ethernet
EtherNet/IP carries CIP messages over standard Ethernet and IP. The IP stands for Industrial Protocol, and the network underneath is the one you already know.
Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
It is why an ordinary managed switch can run a production cell, and why VLANs, multicast and duplex are not office concerns that happen to appear on a plant floor. They are the plant floor.
How to think about it
Treat the cell as a network with deadlines. Everything you know applies; what changes is that the cost of getting it wrong is a stopped line rather than a slow page.
Worked example
enableThe # prompt.
configure terminalInto configuration mode.
vlan 70A VLAN for the cell, exactly as you would make one for an office.
name CONTROLNamed for the people who will read it.
exitOut.
interface gi0/2The controller's port.
description Cell 7 controllerSay what is on it. On a plant floor this is worth more than anywhere else.
switchport mode accessOne VLAN, no tags. A controller is a single device.
switchport access vlan 70In the cell's VLAN.
spanning-tree portfastIt is one device, so there is no reason to make it wait to forward.
endOut.
show vlan briefGi0/2 against CONTROL. The same screen, the same commands, and traffic that must not be late.
Your turn
Put the controller's port in the control VLAN.
switchport access vlan
Console into a switch
The trap
Assuming industrial protocols need industrial switches. Many run on any managed switch; what the industrial hardware buys you is the temperature range, the DIN rail, the redundant power and the ring protocols.